Politics as Usual, and Then Some - New York Times

Politics as Usual, and Then Some - New York Times: "Douglas J. Holtz-Eakin, a former economist in the Bush White House who became director of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office nearly three years ago, announced that he planned to leave government at the end of the year. In his tenure, Mr. Holtz-Eakin reported that the Republican tax cuts and spending plans would do little or nothing to stimulate economic growth. He found that the tax cuts were skewed heavily in favor of the wealthiest Americans. His office raised doubts about proposals to partly privatize Social Security, concluded that abolishing the estate tax would reduce charitable donations and calculated that allowing same-sex marriages would slightly increase federal revenues.

In short, Mr. Holtz-Eakin adhered strictly to Budget Office's tradition of sticking to data. As committed as he was personally to conservative economics and Republican politics, he was a constant thorn in the side of the White House and the Republican leaders in Congress."